Biography of F G McGavcock, Mississippi Co, AR ********************************************************************* USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free Information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. Submitted by: Michael Brown Date: Sep 1998 ********************************************************************* Bibliography: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishers, 1890. Dr. F. G. McGavock, proprietor of the McGavock plantation, and whose postoffice is in the southern part of Mississippi County, is one of those rare characters now so seldom met. A real Southern gentleman, in his veins flows the best blood of America, and of this the Doctor is justly proud. His mother was the daughter of Felix Grundy, of Nashville, Tenn., who was contemporary with Andrew Jackson. Mr. Grundy, in company with his two sons-in-law, Jacob McGavock (father of the subject of this sketch) and John M. Bass, all of Nashville, made large purchases of land in the southern part of Mississippi County, Ark., about the year 1833, on which they opened [p.529] up large plantations with slave labor. At the same time they held their residence in Nashville, where Dr. F. G. McGavock was born in the year 1832. James McGavock, the great-great-grandfather of the Doctor, came from County Antrim, Ireland, in 1728, and settled in Rockbridge County, Va., where he became acquainted with Miss Mary Cloyd, daughter of David Cloyd, to whom he was married in 1760. They then moved to Wythe County, Va., where they raised a large family, and became very wealthy in the course of time. His son, Hugh McGavock, was proprietor of the Max Meadows estate, which is still in the family. Here was born Jacob McGavock, the father of the Doctor, in 1790. At the age of twenty-two he went to Nashville, Tenn., acting as deputy in the circuit clerk's office for a few years, when he was appointed United States circuit clerk, which position he held until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he acted in the same capacity for the Confederacy. When the Federal troops took Nashville, Mr. McGavock was arrested for high treason, but was released on the evidence of Judge Catron, then of the Supreme Court of the United States, who testified that Mr. McGavock had turned his books over to the United States intact, having hidden them in his cellar, while other clerks allowed their books and records to be destroyed. Mr. McGavock was married to Miss Louisa C. Grundy, who was about ten years his junior, and both lived to a ripe old age, dying in Nashville, Tenn., within one year of each other, he at the age of ninety-one years, and she at the age of eighty-one. They reared seven children, all of whom have had large interests in Mississippi County. Armie, wife of Judge Henry Dickenson, inherited the plantation known as the Dickenson Mills; it is now owned by Jacob McGavock Dickenson, her son, a rising young lawyer of Nashville, Tenn. Col. Randall W. McGavock was killed at the head of his regiment at Raymond, Miss., in the Confederate cause; he was a graduate of the University of Nashville. Sallie, wife of Prof. J. B. Lindsley, of Nashville, was given a large estate near Pecan Point, which is now owned by her son, J. McGavock Lindsley, who resides in Nashville, but spends part of his time on the estate. Ed. J. McGavock [see portrait and sketch]. F. G., the subject of this sketch [see portrait]. John J., of Fayetteville, Ark., who recently disposed of a large estate in the county. Mary, wife of James Todd, of Louisville, Ky., owns 3,000 acres of the McGavock estate at the foot of Island 35, opposite Pecan Point. Dr. F. G. McGavock graduated from the University at Chapel Hill, N. C., and also from the University of Nashville. Shortly after graduating Dr. McGavock married Miss Mary M. Bostick, daughter of John Bostick, of Triune, Tenn. On her marriage she came in possession of a large number of slaves, whom the Doctor used in opening up the Shawnee Village estate, consisting of 1,800 acres of woodland, on the ground that the noted outlaw, John A. Merrill, made famous by making it his stronghold. Previous to that it had been the camp of the Shawnee Indians, and there now stands on this estate one of the largest mounds in the county, which contains bones and pottery of a race apparently superior to and antedating the Indians. In plowing and digging on this place the remains of what appears to have been a brick pavement are found. In some instances large pieces of well-preserved brick, which had been buried for ages, have been brought to the surface. This is all within a square of about twelve acres, around which, on three sides, is a well-defined ridge. There were about three acres cleared at the time the Doctor took hold, and in 1880 he made his only living daughter a present of the estate, with over 700 acres under a fine state of cultivation. The Doctor made his home in Triune, Tenn., in summer, until after the death of his wife, which occurred at the Gayosa House, in Memphis, the day the Federal gun-boats were fighting in front of that city. He was at her bedside when he was made prisoner, but was given permission to attend his dead. He took his two little daughters to Nashville, after which he returned to his plantation. About this time the people of the vicinity organized what was known as the Shawnee Legal Association, to protect themselves against outlaws and guerrillas. The Doctor was made leader and judge, and received the endorsement of [p.530] Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, in command of the Sixteenth Army Corps, at Memphis, and also of the Confederate general, Sterling Price. Vested with this authority the Doctor compelled every man to either join the conclave or get out of the neighborhood. Where a capital offense was committed the culprit was secured and turned over to either the Confederate or Federal authorities, according to circumstances. For theft or other petty offenses, horsewhipping and an order to leave the county were deemed sufficient. If the culprit failed to leave, however, it generally went hard with him when caught again. During the war Dr. McGavock demonstrated the fact that cotton could be successfully cultivated with white labor, and that even delicate women could be brought from an entirely different climate to successfully work in the cotton-field without injury to their health. The negroes were freed and scattered; white men would be conscripted by the Confederate troops; cotton was in demand and brought from 70 to 90 cents per pound. The Doctor went to New York, where he engaged sixty-five Irish girls at Castle Garden, from fourteen to forty-five years of age, and with these made a contract for one year at $20 per month each, and board. Without experience, but with a little showing, these girls made a crop for the Doctor on which he cleared $45,000, after paying all expenses, and allowing rent for the land. He was watchful in regard to their health and comfort, and the large dining-room was presided over by a corps of waiters who served meals prepared by the best skilled cooks and bakers to be found. A barrel of whisky, in which a few ounces of quinine were dissolved, was issued to them at the rate of three drinks of two drams each, at intervals during the day. The Doctor always had a hospital with a skilled nurse, but it was very seldom used, as very little sickness prevailed during the two years of their stay, and but one death occurred. These girls worked on the Pecan Point plantation, and during this time the Doctor paid the expenses of a Catholic priest to come and attend to their spiritual welfare, all being members of that church. A few years later he secured fifty-five German men from Castle Garden, and employed them successfully for one year on his Nodena plantation; but the best hands he ever worked were eighteen Chinamen, just from China, whom he secured in Chicago. These he employed on the Shawnee Village place, but they, like the others he imported, were enticed away by ill-advisers or friends. In 1879 Dr. McGavock moved to his present place, known as “McGavock” (the governor having so named the postoffice), which at that time was but a wilderness. It is now one of the finest plantations in the county, with about 640 acres under cultivation. Here the Doctor used both white and colored labor, and thinks the white can stand the climate and work as well as the negro. Since moving to McGavock the Doctor has abandoned the practice of medicine, which at one time was very extensive. He goes now only when called by another physician in consultation. When first coming to Mississippi County he established a nursery for the culture of fruits and flowers, exper**** menting with almost all the varieties from the leading nurseries of the East and North. He has successfully raised apples, peaches, plums, pears, apricots, nectarines, cherries, figs, almonds, English walnuts, filberts, and small fruits, and grapes of every known variety. For bees he thinks this is a perfect paradise, as all the flora of the woods are honey-bearing. He has raised within the county the following crops: Grass and vegetables, oats, rye, wheat, millet, buckwheat, tobacco, peanuts, white and sweet potatoes, clover, timothy, and all garden produce, with perfect success. The Doctor is now interesting himself in the improvement of the cattle of his district, having recently imported a fine Jersey bull from England, and now has about 100 head of the finest Jersey cows in the State. His daughter, Monoah, is the wife of William S. Bransford, of Nashville, Tenn., where they now reside. Mrs. Bransford is the owner of the Shawnee Village plantation. They have two bright little girls–Bessie and Louise. In 1881 Dr. McGavock was elected to represent the county in the State legislature, which he did to the satisfaction of his constituents and the State, but, owing to his home interests, he refused to accept the second term. He is a member of the Odd Fellows [p.531] and of the Masons; also of the Knights of Honor, of Frenchman's Bayou, where McGavock Lodge was named in his honor. Heis a man who has made fortunes, at one time being worth as much as $1,000,000. But wealth to him is but a means, and not an end, so he lavishes it as freely as he makes it. His hospitality is unbounded; all are welcome. To his equals he is courteous, to his inferiors kind, and all receive that consideration due their station. Being a man of decided views and of an active temperament, he often shows his roughest side out, while those who know him best are his best friends. As he is probably better known than any man in the county, he has a host of friends, and can be classed as the most remarkable man in Mississippi County.